1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a disk guard which can limit z-axis movement of a disk within a hard disk drive.
2. Background Information
Hard disk drives typically contain a plurality of hard disks that are rotated by a spindle motor. The hard disks spin relative to a plurality of heads which can magnetize or sense the magnetic fields of the disk surfaces to store and retrieve binary information as is well known in the art.
Each head is typically gimbal mounted to a suspension arm. A head and suspension arm are commonly referred to as a head gimbal assembly (HGA). The suspension arms are attached to an actuator arm which can pivot about a base plate of the drive. The actuator arm has a voice coil that is connected to a drive circuit (not shown) and coupled to a magnet assembly. The voice coil and magnet assembly are commonly referred to as a voice coil motor. The drive circuit provides a current which excites the voice coil motor and causes the actuator arm to rotate about the base plate. Rotation of the actuator arm moves the heads relative to the surfaces of the disks. Data is typically stored on the disk within annular tracks. Movement of the heads allows the drive to access the different disk tracks.
An external shock or vibration load can cause the disks to move into the actuator arm. This contact may damage the disk surfaces and corrupt data stored in the disks. It would be desirable to prevent contact between the actuator arm and the data portions of the disks during a shock occurrence. It would also be desirable to provide a relatively inexpensive solution to this problem.
One embodiment of the present invention is a disk guard which can limit a z-axis movement of a disk within a hard disk drive. The disk guard may be mounted to a housing of the disk drive adjacent to the disk. A portion of the disk may extend into a groove of the disk guard. The groove limits the z-axis movement of the disk when the disk drive is subjected to a shock load.